Editing Beaux-Arts Architecture (section)

== Origins and Principles ==

The École des Beaux-Arts trained architects in a rigorous methodology that emphasized rational planning, axial organization, hierarchical composition, and the integration of architecture with sculpture and painting. Students learned to organize buildings around clear circulation systems, to express different functions through varied scales and treatments, and to coordinate architectural elements into coherent compositions. The Beaux-Arts approach valued tradition without demanding archaeological accuracy—architects drew freely from classical sources while adapting them to modern requirements and materials.<ref name="tatum">{{cite book |last=Tatum |first=George B. |title=Penn's Great Town: 250 Years of Philadelphia Architecture |year=1961 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia}}</ref>

Beaux-Arts architecture in America found particular application in civic and institutional buildings, where its grand scale, rich ornament, and classical associations conveyed appropriate dignity and permanence. Banks, railroad stations, museums, libraries, and government buildings adopted Beaux-Arts dress, their columned facades and sculptural programs expressing institutional authority. The style also shaped urban design, with architects planning coherent ensembles of buildings, axes, and public spaces that organized cities on classical principles.<ref name="roth"/>